Night’s Nomenclature

"Stop."

On the midnight city streets, Qing Chen and Zhang Mengqian quickly halted.

Zhang Mengqian held his breath. He could hear a horde of rats marching ahead, no more than twenty meters away.

White, bleached bones littered the road, piled one atop another.

Blood stained the ground crimson.

This was District 6, completely overrun by rats. The residents of District 5 had been almost completely wiped out, their flesh carried underground by the rats to nourish their young.

The streets, once bustling and vibrant, were eerily silent, devoid of even the sound of wailing.

Annihilated.

Zhang Mengqian's voice trembled. "Boss, who did this?"

Zhang Mengqian then saw several small human skeletons. He clenched his fists. "Boss, I want to kill everyone from the Shendai Consortium. They don't value anyone's life!"

Qing Chen's expression remained impassive. "Then you have to become stronger."

He hadn't chosen to slaughter the rat horde because they were simply too numerous.

As he and Zheng Yuandong had speculated, seeing one cockroach at home meant hundreds were breeding in the shadows.

Seeing two or three thousand rats running on the streets meant millions might be lurking in the sewers.

The sheer number was terrifying. Even a Demi-God would likely exhaust themselves to death trying to eliminate them all.

So Qing Chen wouldn't act rashly. He had to wait for the right moment, find the Rat King, and strike at the head.

With the Rat King dead, the rat hordes wouldn't attack humans in such an organized manner. Instinctively, they'd fear fire and guns again.

Without killing the Rat King, Qing Chen wouldn't have enough lives.

"Boss, where are we going now?" Zhang Mengqian asked.

"To find a clue," Qing Chen said calmly. "I'm looking for a Neurotoxin Expert's widow. I'll find some clues from her. According to the latest intelligence, she recently moved to District 4."

"Don't we need to regroup with your people? The city's power is out, communication is cut off, will they be able to manage on their own?" Zhang Mengqian wondered.

"No, the necessary commands were given before we crossed over," Qing Chen replied.

Qing Chen had made all the necessary arrangements, only then could he continue searching for the clues he needed.

Zhang Mengqian was envious of the Time Traveler's position, realizing that in some unknown dimension of time, Qing Chen had already accomplished so much.

"Let's go."

The two moved quickly again. As they were walking, a rat suddenly lunged at Qing Chen from the shadows. Its claws, broken from digging through the concrete in the Lower Three Districts, were still incredibly sharp.

Before it could reach him, about twenty centimeters away, a thin arc of electricity, like static electricity in winter, struck its forehead.

At this moment, Qing Chen was like an electric hedgehog; no rat could silently attack him without dying.

The rat instantly froze, falling straight to the ground.

But Qing Chen had controlled the power of the thunder to a minuscule degree, just enough to kill the rat without wasting any more energy.

There were too many rats; from now on, he had to be frugal and not waste his internal energy.

Then, several more rats emerged from the darkness.

Qing Chen had initially intended to electrocute them all, but he abruptly stopped, leaving one alive.

He flicked the rat away and stared coldly, as if verifying something.

There were two possibilities: one, the rat horde hadn't yet been controlled by Shendai Qianchi.

Even the Forbidden Artifact Ant Queen ACE0 couldn't easily control this population. After all, the more powerful the Forbidden Artifact, the more restrictions it had.

In that case, the Rat Tide disaster hadn't reached its worst point.

They were only following their instincts to eat and breed for now.

The other possibility was that Shendai Qianchi was already hiding in the city in his new possessed form, having completed his control over the Rat King.

After all, only this scoundrel knew the exact location of the Demi-God body.

Qing Chen needed a lot of information to confirm the Rat King's location, while the other party could find it more easily.

If the latter was true—Shendai Qianchi had already controlled the Rat King and unleashed this city-wide disaster—it would be the worst-case scenario.

In that case, the rat horde would be helping Shendai Qianchi to hunt him down and eliminate him, the future Knight leader.

But now, the rat didn't recognize him.

Qing Chen didn't kill it; he turned and left.

As he proceeded, he repeatedly checked his surroundings, and no hordes of rats suddenly appeared to encircle him. Qing Chen was certain that there was a 90% chance that the rat horde hadn't yet been controlled by Shendai Qianchi.

That was good news.

The two of them proceeded cautiously, using their hearing to avoid the rat hordes, slowly approaching District 4.

The sound of human voices grew louder.

Wails occasionally drifted from the darkness of District 4.

"It seems the rat horde just started attacking District 4," Qing Chen said calmly. "We can't wait any longer. We'll weave our way through the crowd. Once I find Yuan Yang's widow in the Peace Skyscraper, we'll leave."

As he spoke, Qing Chen and Zhang Mengqian began to accelerate. Fortunately, the boy had eaten nine Eternal Heaven Fruit, otherwise, just this long trek would have exhausted him.

As soon as they entered District 4, they saw people fleeing from bars, boxing gyms, and strip clubs.

A glamorous woman in high heels had her heel break while running, and two rats were still gnawing at the flesh on her neck.

A fat man had just run out of the door when a horde of rats swarmed over him, pulling his enormous body back into the bar.

A well-dressed middle-aged man, flanked by two bodyguards, pushed a middle-aged woman to the ground to clear a path.

It was like hell on earth.

Scene after scene of bloody images were suddenly and vividly etched into Qing Chen's mind, unforgettable, he hated his unparalleled memory more than ever.

He would never forget it.

Qing Chen calmly moved through the crowd, trying to pretend he hadn't seen what happened to those people.

He had to hurry and find Yuan Yang's widow and illegitimate son, otherwise, if they were dead, this clue would be lost.

Shadow had searched for a century for clues, only to find this one overlooked detail that the Hu Family Intelligence Agency had discovered by chance. If Qing Chen missed it again, the truth of that period of history might be truly buried.

"Hurry up," Qing Chen whispered, electrocuting the rats that approached them.

But then, looking ahead, Qing Chen saw a little girl standing in the middle of the street, her hands rubbing her eyes, crying. Her parents were nowhere to be seen.

Adults ran past her, only she remained there, calling out for her parents.

No one tried to save her. Everyone was only concerned with themselves.

Qing Chen's pace slowed. People kept dying on the streets, while he remained unharmed due to his strength.

But when he looked around, four or five children had lost their parents, the old man who sold snacks in District 4 was pushed to the ground, women were screaming in agony, and even wealthy patrons watching a boxing match, along with their bodyguards, were surrounded by rats.

District 4, the most prosperous and vibrant part of the Federation city, was a scene of hell.

It was too tragic.

Should he intervene or not?

If he did, he couldn't bring all these people to find Yuan Yang's widow. If they didn't leave District 4 quickly, they would all die. So, he had to take them away, abandoning the search for clues.

If he didn't, these people would die right before his eyes.

Qing Chen stood blankly on the street.

But he had to help his brother and sister-in-law find the culprit and avenge them. There was no time. Perhaps the rats had already surrounded Yuan Yang's widow's building. Perhaps she had already been attacked.

There was no time.

He had done so much research, so much effort, such detailed planning in the Outer World, hoping that when he arrived in the Inner World, he would have some time, not have to worry about so many people and things, to be selfish for once, and find a clue and the truth for his brother.

But even after doing all that, he still had to make a choice.

He had made plans for everyone, but he still couldn't relax and complete his own plan.

The Time Travelers from the Academy were desperately trying to cross the city to reach the Lower Three Districts.

Kunlun Members were infiltrating the most dangerous parts of District 5.

Home Families were guarding the life channels.

Everyone was fighting for a chance to live.

Qing Chen lowered his head. Zhang Mengqian stood silently beside him.

Brother, I'm sorry.

"Mengqian, we won't look for clues," Qing Chen said softly. "Let's save people."

He suddenly looked back at the Peace Skyscraper, 600 meters away.

600 meters was definitely within Qing Chen's sniper range. A black sniper bullet would reach its target in an instant. Before, he thought 600 meters was too close, but now he felt it was too far.

"Save people! Mengqian, gather all the children first!" Qing Chen roared. "Everyone on the street, come towards me, I'll lead you out! Fight our way out!

"Understood!" Zhang Mengqian ran out quickly. He picked up the confused and crying children on the street and ran towards Qing Chen.

He saw his Boss standing on the long street, golden light emanating from the depths of his pupils.

At some point, Zhang Mengqian suddenly felt proud. This was the person he wanted to follow.

In an instant, sixteen arcs of electricity zig-zagged outward, burning and piercing the rats chasing from the bars!

The hundreds of people still alive on the street, seeing this, rushed towards them like they'd grabbed a lifeline.

"Boss, I've brought them all back," Zhang Mengqian shouted. Even this young boy, relying on the effects of the Eternal Heaven Fruit, was carrying two little girls on his shoulders, with two relatively stronger little boys behind him.

Qing Chen took a deep breath. "Fight our way out!"